Where

Find what you're looking for.

Your files, notes, tasks and projects, connected and searchable in one place. Local-first. Private by default. No account needed.

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Why Where?

File Explorer shows you where a file is. Where shows you everything about a piece of work: its files, tasks, notes and links, in one search.

You want to…	File Explorer	Where
Find a file by name	✅	✅
See the tasks and notes that go with a folder	❌	✅
Search "website login" and get the task, the note and the code folder	❌	✅
Find something without remembering which app or folder it's in	❌	✅
Keep everything offline and private	✅	✅

Where doesn't replace your apps or move your files. It sits on top of them and connects them. It isn't the first tool to link notes and projects (Notion, Capacities and Anytype do too); what's different is combining that with your real files, fully offline. See the spec for the honest comparison.

Features

• Search everything as you type. Results are grouped by kind with the matching words highlighted, and search follows connections: "website authentication" finds the task Fix Firebase authentication because it's inside the Website project.
• Projects collect tasks, notes and folders, with a progress bar.
• Tasks with checkboxes, In progress status and filters.
• Notes that save as you type and can belong to a project.
• Links from your browser: click the Where button (or Alt+Shift+W) on any page to save it with a title, a note and a project. Addresses are clickable and searchable. Browser extension →
• Files: index only the folders you choose. Where never moves, changes or uploads your files.
• Ctrl K for quick actions: create, jump anywhere, index, export, switch theme.
• Privacy panel that shows exactly what Where stores. Sync, AI and activity tracking are all off.
• Export everything to JSON, Markdown, CSV or a database copy.
• Light and dark themes, full keyboard control, subtle animations.

Download

Get the file for your computer from the latest release:

Your computer	Download	Then
Windows 10 / 11	Where-Setup-…-windows-x64.exe	Run it. Where is added to the Start menu.
Windows, no install	Where-…-windows-x64-portable.zip	Unzip, run Where.exe
Mac (Apple Silicon or Intel)	Where-…-macos-universal.dmg	Open it, drag Where to Applications
Linux (any distro)	Where-…-linux-x64.AppImage	chmod +x the file, then run it
Ubuntu / Debian / Mint	Where-…-linux-x64.deb	sudo apt install ./Where-…-linux-x64.deb
Linux on ARM	…-linux-arm64.AppImage or .deb	Same as above

These builds aren't signed yet. The first time: on Windows click More info → Run anyway; on a Mac right-click Where → Open.

Build it yourself

The setup script works out which computer it's on — Windows, Mac or Linux, Intel/AMD or ARM — installs anything missing, builds the right app for it, and opens Where.

Your computer	Run	You get
Windows	double-click start-where.bat	Where.exe, plus Desktop and Start menu shortcuts
Mac	double-click start-where.command	Where.app in ~/Applications (Launchpad, Spotlight)
Linux	bash start-where.sh in a terminal	Where, added to your applications menu

What gets installed if it's missing:

• Windows: Git, Visual Studio C++ Build Tools, Rust, Flutter. Turn on Developer Mode when asked.
• Mac: Xcode from the App Store (the script opens it for you — install and open it once), CocoaPods, Rust, Flutter.
• Linux: clang, cmake, ninja, pkg-config and GTK 3 via apt, dnf, pacman or zypper (you'll be asked for your password), Rust, Flutter.

The first run downloads several GB of tools and can take 20–40 minutes. Later runs take about a minute.

Option	What it does
(none)	Set up if needed, build, open Where
update	Get the latest code from GitHub first
cli	Build and open the command-line version

e.g. start-where.bat update or bash start-where.sh update.

If something goes wrong, the script shows the last lines of its log: %LOCALAPPDATA%\where-tools\setup-log.txt on Windows, ~/.where-tools/setup-log.txt on Mac and Linux.

Developer builds (no setup, just build)

If your toolchain is already installed and you only want the release files:

Your computer	Script
Windows	build-windows.bat → dist\v<ver>\ portable zip + installer
Mac	bash build-macos.sh → dist/v<ver>/ dmg + zip
Linux	bash build-linux.sh → dist/v<ver>/ AppImage + deb + tar.gz

Publishing a release

1. Write the notes in docs/releases/vX.Y.Z.md (first line # Title becomes the release name). Without a file, the CHANGELOG section is used.
2. Bump the version in Cargo.toml (workspace) and apps/where_flutter/pubspec.yaml.
3. Push to main, then push a tag: git tag -a vX.Y.Z -m "…" and git push origin vX.Y.Z.
4. GitHub builds the Windows, Mac and Linux downloads on its own machines and publishes the Release. See .github/workflows/release.yml.

By hand (Windows): double-click make-release.bat. It zips the app you built with start-where.bat, builds the installer, adds the browser extension and anything in release-files\ (e.g. a Mac .dmg or Linux .AppImage built on those computers), and creates or updates the GitHub Release with the notes from docs/releases/. make-release.bat -Fetch also pulls in the Mac and Linux files GitHub built for that tag; -Draft publishes a draft first.

Save links from your browser

1. In Chrome, Edge or Brave, open the extensions page (chrome://extensions) and turn on Developer mode.
2. Click Load unpacked and pick the browser-extension folder. After running start-where.bat there's also a copy next to Where.exe.
3. Pin the Where button, click it on any page, then Connect and Allow in Where.

The extension only talks to Where on your own computer. Details in browser-extension/README.md.

Keyboard shortcuts

Keys	Action
Ctrl K	Quick actions and search
Ctrl 1 – Ctrl 6	Home, Projects, Tasks, Notes, Links, Files
Alt+Shift+W (browser)	Save the current page to Where
Ctrl ,	Settings
↑ ↓ Enter	Move through results and open
Esc	Close a dialog

Command line

where-cli demo                                   # the spec §39 example
where-cli add project Website
where-cli add task "Fix Firebase authentication" -p Website
where-cli index ~/Documents/website -p Website
where-cli search website auth
where-cli show Website
where-cli export -f md where.md

Run from source with cargo run -p where_cli -- <command>. The tool is named where-cli because plain where clashes with Windows' built-in where.exe.

How it works

apps/where_flutter ──dart:ffi──► where_ffi ──► where_search ──► where_storage (SQLite + FTS5)
                                                     ▲                  ▲
                          where_cli ─────────────────┘      where_indexer ┘
                                                     all built on where_core

Folder	What's inside
apps/where_flutter/	The desktop app (Flutter)
crates/where_core/	Objects and relationships
crates/where_storage/	SQLite storage, full-text index, export
crates/where_search/	Query parsing, ranking, relationship-aware matching
crates/where_indexer/	Opt-in folder indexing
crates/where_ffi/	The bridge between the app and the engine
crates/where_cli/	Command-line tool
browser-extension/	Save pages from Chrome, Edge or Brave
scripts/	Packaging for Mac/Linux (package.sh), Windows release helper (make-release.ps1)
build-windows.bat / build-macos.sh / build-linux.sh	Developer build scripts — produce release files without setup steps
installer/	Windows installer (Inno Setup)
docs/	Product spec and architecture decisions

Status

v0.7.0 — alpha. Windows, Mac and Linux, with installers. See the changelog.

Spec §38 question	Status
Can Where index a folder you choose?	✅
Can it store objects locally?	✅
Can it search them quickly?	✅ sub-millisecond on small sets
Can objects be connected?	✅
Can results be shown clearly and quickly?	✅ desktop app ships on all three platforms

Next up: search speed benchmark (100k objects, p95 < 50 ms), global Ctrl+Space shortcut, linking notes to files and people. Later: sync, integrations (GitHub, Google Drive, calendar), optional AI search, plugins.

Principles

Your data is yours · works offline · private by default · no required AI · never deletes your files, sends messages or uploads anything without you asking. Details: PRIVACY.md.

Development

cargo test --all
cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings
cargo fmt --all

See CONTRIBUTING.md. Work is planned in Notion (Where → Roadmap & Tasks); link the Notion task in each pull request.

Project documents

CHANGELOG.md	What changed in each version
CONTRIBUTING.md	How to help, and keeping private files out of the repo
GOVERNANCE.md	Maintainers, contribution licensing, ADR policy, release process
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md	How we treat each other
SECURITY.md	Reporting vulnerabilities privately
PRIVACY.md	What Where stores and what it never does
SUPPORT.md	Getting help and common fixes
docs/	Product spec and architecture decisions

License

Apache License, Version 2.0. Contributions are welcome under the same licence — no CLA required. See GOVERNANCE.md for the full contribution and governance model.